Note 2 — SECTION I. Are the Phenomena, exhibited by the Application of certain different Metals to Animals, referrible to Electricity?

On this metal Cronstedt has the following very curious remark: “It seems to become electrical by friction, and then its smaller particles are attracted by the loadstone; which effects are not yet properly investigated.” Zinc is an ingredient of the best amalgam for smearing the rubbers of electrical machines: But I have not been able to render a bar of zinc electrical by friction, nor to find that its smaller particles were in any state attracted by the loadstone, unless they had been scraped off by means of an instrument of iron. But, in this way, the dust of any metal is rendered susceptible of the influence of the loadstone.